The invention relates to a submarine weapon, particularly for combating submarines having a rocket engine and an actively locating, acoustic target seeking device.
Submarine weapons for the combating of submarines are known as torpedoes which, upon entering the water, will locate a submarine by means of the acoustic target seeking device and are steered toward the submarine by means of a steering unit evaluating the ranging results (homing). The torpedoes are usually equipped with a relatively low-noise propeller drive unit in order to prevent impairment of the function of the acoustic target seeking device by too high an intrinsic noise level. The propeller in this system is driven by a gas turbine, an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor.
A submarine weapon for antisubmarine use has been known under the term ASROC system, consisting of a torpedo of the MK 46 type, a rocket engine, and a parachute. This system is airborne, i.e. it is fired in each case from a surface vessel or an aircraft. Upon entrance into the water, the torpedo separates from the other parts of the system and is caused to home after target detection.
The propeller-driven torpedoes have the draw-back of mechanically very sophisticated drive mechanisms causing a great deal of expenditure. In case the propeller is driven electrically, a considerable portion of the volume and weight of the torpedo is taken by the batteries. Additionally, such torpedoes are not exempt from servicing over a prolonged period of time; rather, the torpedoes must be operated at regular intervals to ensure their functioning.
A submarine weapon of the type heretofore described has been known (DE 3,100,794 Al) which is transported into the proximity of the target by means of the rocket engine through the air from a mother ship. Upon entrance into the water, the rocket chamber serves as the operating chamber of a hydraulic pulsed engine by means of which the weapon is driven underwater. The hydraulic pulsed engine operates by repeatedly filling the rocket chamber with water which is then ejected at high velocity through a nozzle at the rear of the weapon body by means of a number of gas pressure generators ignited in succession. During the burning of one of the gas generators and the subsequent ejection of water from the rocket chamber in order to accelerate the submarine weapon, a considerable intrinsic noise is produced. However, between the drive impulses, the inherent noise of the hydraulic pulsed drive mechanism is at a minimum so that the acoustic sensors of the target locating device are capable of listening for noises of a submarine in the surroundings of the submarine weapon. The interval operation of hydraulic pulsed motor and acoustic target seeking device, though, represents a compromise that is not close to an optimum; on the one hand, the submarine weapon cannot attain any high traveling velocities and, on the other hand, the efficacy of the acoustic target locating device is limited with regard to its ranging zone.